Microwave popcorn is an extremely popular snack item and over 175,000 tons of microwave popcorn products are sold annually, making popcorn a $1.1 billion worldwide annual business. Most microwave popcorn products come in an expandable paper bag filled with a mix of popcorn, oil, and optionally salt and butter. On exposure to 2 to 4 minutes of microwave energy, the oil rises in temperature along with the internal temperature of the kernals until the heat is sufficient to explode the popcorn kernels. Once the popcorn kernels have cooled to the point that they can be handled without burning fingers, millions of people enjoy the freshly popped snack.
To provide more taste variety than typical salt and butter, some popcorn products include other flavorings or additives to provide consumer choices for flavors such as cheese (single or multiple cheeses), herb, sour cream & chive, etc. Although the simplest method of applying these flavors to the popcorn is to sprinkle the flavoring over the already popped kernels, many consumers prefer the convenience of having the popcorn already flavored when it comes out of the bag. Typically, the flavoring is added as a powder or oil to the oil and salt mix before it is mixed with the popcorn kernels in the bag, but it is also known to provide a coating or layer of the flavoring directly on the popcorn kernel prior to it being placed in the bag.
In an attempt to capitalize on the popularity of microwave popcorn, many attempts have been made to produce other microwaveable snacks, for example, spherical pellets, barrels, and ellipsoids which puff upon microwave heating. Attempts have been made to make simulated popcorn, microwaveable pork rinds, cheese-coated puffed snacks, and similar snacks. However, other than the pork rinds, these snacks have not been available to the consumer because of the difficulties experienced with heating these products in a microwave and the lack of a viable product. Starch-based products, such as cheese-puffs and the like have a tendency to clump or agglomerate and burn, in part because the puffable pellets do not expand uniformly. The result is a large mass of undesirable starch material, part burned, part unpuffed and potentially under cooked.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,772 to Wilber attempted to solve burning problems of non-popcorn puffable snacks. Wilber disclosed that one problem with substituting puffable pellets for popcorn in the microwave snack is the lack of a sound cue to indicate completion of the microwave heating step. That is, pellets which gradually expand do not make a popping sound, so the consumer must rely on visual clues. Unfortunately, the majority of microwave snack bags are opaque paper. Thus, Wilber discloses a snack that comprises a microwave puffable or expandable pellet having a novel coating which confines expansion upon microwave heating and which exhibits sudden failure to provide the puffed product. The result is an exploding material which provides an audible clue as to when the product is done popping. However, the exploded snacks of Wilber closely resemble that of popcorn kernels. What is desired is a snack that enhances and complements popped popcorn, rather than attempting to imitate and replace it.
In addition to popcorn, consumers enjoy having a variety of different snack foods mixed together, for example, peanuts with pretzels, Chex Mix.RTM. and "trail mix". It is the combination of flavors, textures, sizes and spices that attracts eaters to these snack mixes. However, although consumers enjoy the variety a snack mix provides, the lure of fresh, hot popcorn usually prevails.
A consumer's snacking enjoyment may be greatly increased if a snack mix having various flavors, textures, and sizes could be obtained fresh and hot from the microwave. A snack that combines popcorn and another complementary snack would be optimal.